Sorting machine



Aug. 7, 1934. R Lo NT 1,969,377

SORTING MACHINE Filed May 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet l CARD CYCLE G2 VEN 0R-c-3 G4 I I BY INDEX -Pauv- PoslTIONS ATTORNEY- Patented Aug. 7, 1934UNITED STATES PA -N OFFICE SORTING MACHINE Rudolf Lorant, Berlin-Dahlem,Germany, as-

signor, by mesne assignments, to International Business MachinesCorporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May12, 1932, Serial No. 610,863

5 Claims. (01. 209110) I vide a sorting machine of the type abovedescribed which is more universal in its applica-. tions, that is tosay, to provide a sorting machine capable of performing more functionsthan former machines.

More specifically stated, the invention provides a machine which iscapable not merely of simple sorting of record cards into separatepockets according to the index-point values of the control perforationsand simple selective sorting accordtions as those of selecting pairedcards, selecting falsely perforated cards, selecting whole groups ofrelated cards as a unit, replacing certain cards in a batch by newcards, removing ore-determined cards from a batch, and, carrying out,during a single passage of the cards through the machine, the functionof replacing certain cards by others,

and the function of removing predetermined cards from the batch.

A more specific object is to generally improve sorting machines of thetype disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,741,985 grantedDecember 31, 1929 to A. Ford by providing such machines with meanspermitting the aforesaid machine to perform the additional functionsgiven in the preceding paragraph.

Various other objects, features or advantages of the invention will bepointed out in the following specification and claims or will beapparent after a study of said specification and claims and theaccompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating the invention,

Figure 2 is a chart showing the timing of certain commutatorsillustrated diagrammatically in Figure 1.,

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic View showing the arrangement and feeding of abatch of cards from which paired cards are to be selected and placed ina common sorting pocket separate from the single or unpaired cards. 7

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing the arrangement of thesame batch of cards shown in said figure when the cards of the pairs areto,

= be sorted into two separate sorting pockets.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing the arrangement of abatch of cards wherein oer-- tain falsely perforated cards appear whichit is desired to remove aut0matically.

Figure '6 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing the arrangement of abatch of cards wherein certaincards are to be replaced by others.

Figure '7 is a view similar to Figure 6 and illustrates the arrangementof the same batch of cards shown in said figure when certain of thecards are to be removed and others replaced during a single passage ofthe batch through the machine.

Figure 8 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the arrangement of a batchof cards when whole groups of cards are to be removed.

I. Sorting mechanism The sorting mechanism may be of any desiredconstruction, but isfpreferably of the form illustrated and described inLetters Patent 1,741,985, cited hereinbefore, consequently only a briefdescription of said mechanism will be given herein and for furtherdetails reference may be had to the patent.

' The numerals 20 refer generally to a series of flexible bladeswhos'eright ends (Fig. 1) lead to different sorting pockets (not shown) ofwhich there are usually thirteen and whose left ends are narrowed andcurved upwardly as shown in Figure 1'. The curved or upturned ends restnormally upon the armature 21, whichcomprises a narrow plate normallyoccupying a position flush with and between two fixed parallel guideplates 22. Cooperating with the armature 21 is the sorting magnet SM.

"The cards to be sorted are fed from a hopper (not shown) mounted to theleft of the blades 20 and are fed by any suitable feeding mechanism suchas the one shown in above patent. A suitable card picker, (not shown)advances the lowest card in the hopper toward the feeding rolls (notshown) which carry the card between the main sorting brush B-1 and-acontact roll CR, the

-. ends of blades 20. The brush B -r-l is the normal sorting brush ofthe machine and is mounted in a movable brush holderas described in theabove patent, which brush holder may be moved manually to bring thebrush B1 into position to sense holes in any desired column of indexpoints in the record cards advanced by the feeding mechanism.Cooperating with the contact roll CR is a pair of feed rolls 23, onlyone of which is shown, Fig. l, whosepurpose is to hold the card incontact with the contact roll CR and also to feed the card to the right,Fig. 1.

ing the hole in the 7 index-point position will" neath the upturned endsof all blades 20 without 'its contacts and thereby establishes a holdingcircuit for itself, relay R--2, and the sorting magnet SM through thecommutator C-1 which holding circuit is maintaineduntil the brush B-1 issimilar in construction to the commutator de scribed in the abovepatent. The purpose of the commutator C-5 is to permit sorting inaccordance with predetermined index points and operates exactly asdescribed in the patent cited. It will be understood thatsaid'commutato-r C5 is provided with twelve positions or bars any onefor all of which may be made current conducting with the left line wire26 in the manner described in the above patent.

When it is desired to carry out selective sorting operations as, forinstance, toselect from a given batch all cards having a perforation inthe 7 index-point position of a predetermined column of the record cardsthe bar of commutator C-:'5' corresponding to the f7 index pointposition will be made current conducting with the line wire 26. 'Whenthe machine is started as described in the patent cited, cards will beadvanced by the-feeding mechanism past the brush B1 and the contact rollCR and if the brush B1 senses a hole in the 7 index-point position ofthedesired column in any card a circuit'will' be established as follows:Left side of line 26, the 7 position or bar of commutator C5,the brushCB, contact roll CR, brush B--1, normally closed contacts of relay R 4,the windings of relays R l and R2, the sorting magnet SM and thenormally closed lower contacts of relay Fir- 3, to the line wire 25.

Energizationof the magnet SM will occur at the time'when the right edge(Fig, 1) of the card lies between the appropriate'blade 20 leading tothe 7 pocket and the next adjacent blade. on

the left (Fig. 1) leading to the 6 pocket so that thearmature 21 will bedrawn downwardlythereby'lowering the blade 20 corresponding to the 7,sorting" pocket and all other blades immediately to the right of saidblade, while the blades 2ll'to theleft of the 7 blade will be held upbythe surface of the card. As aresult the card havbe guided into the spacebetween the fiff and 7 blades and then will be carried. by suitablefeeding rolls (not shown) to the'right into the 7 pocket. Any'succeedingcards whichhave a perforation in the 7 index-point position willlikewise be guided by the 6 and? blades 20'into the 7 pocket. All othercardshaving no hole in the 7 index-point position of the column fromwhich sorting is beinggcontrolled will pass be-' causing the magnetSM'to be energized and will be conveyed into the reject pocket or R.pocket 1 as it is usually called. 5

- Energizatio'n of the relay R1.causes it to close has finished sensingthe 12 index-point position normal sorting operations. the relay R2 willattract it's armature, however, closure of the nor-.

' as shown in Fig. 2.

in connection with the various sorting, operations of which machine iscapable. I The normally opened contacts of relay 3P2 are connected toone of a pair of brushes 27 coasting-with commutator C2, which is soarranged as to connect the brushes 27 electrically from a point somewhatbeyond the 12 indexpoint position to a point between the 7 and 8 indexpoint positions of the following cycle The other brush 27 is connectedto the common terminal of a three-point switch S1, the lower point ofwhich is connected through a. resistance to the left line wire 26, whilethe upper point is connected directly to said line wire.

In shunt across brushes 27 and in series with a switch S-2 is thewinding of relay RPL For. normal. sorting operations, the switch s -elis set in the middle position so that the energization of the relay R-2and closure of its associated contacts has no effect. 7

Connected in shunt with the sorting magnet SM and 'a. pair of brushes 28through a switch S3 is a commutator C3, which is arranged toelectrically connect the brushes 28 from a point between the 2 and 3index-point POSi-w tions of a given cycle to a point just beyond: the 12index-point position of the same cycle, as; shown in Fig. 2. The switchS-3is open during normal sorting operations so that commutator C3 has noeffect upon the sorting magnet.

Extending from the brush 3-1 is a series'cirr cuit including a pair ofbrushes 29 associatedwith a commutator C-4 arranged to connect thebrushes 29 electrically from the 8 indexpoint position to the 3indexpoint position of the same cycle as shown in Fig.2, which seriescircuit extends through the winding of a relay R3, a resistance, and aswitch S-4 to the right line wire 25. The switch S-4i, is open duringnormal sorting operations so that the relay R3 ordinarily has no tactsofsaid relay will remain closed. 7

The commutators C-1 to C5, inclusive, are preferably mounted on a commonshaft and are, driven in synchronism with the feed rolls 23 so thateach'commutator makes one revolution per, card. cycle and establishcircuits according to the timing just described and illustrated in Fig.2. wherein the solid black portions represent the part of the cycleduring which the circuit is II. Sorting paired cards into a pocketseparate from the pocket for the single cards -It is desired at times toselect from a given batch of cards all those cards which are paired andhave common data thereon as, for instance, inselling goods a card may bepunched when the invoice. is made out and the goods shipped and later avsecond card-may be punched when effect, hence the lower 0011-;

the invoice is paid. The problem islto sort out:

from a miscellaneous batchof cards thosepairs i of ar s. representing.the i it and the pay-1 ment of such invoice. In order to do this thecards which represent a paid invoice are provided with a perforation inthe 12 index-point position of a given column, whereas in thecorresponding column of the card first made out for the invoice there isno 12 perforation provided. It is necessary to carry out a preliminarysorting operation to place the cards in numerical order according toinvoice or group number so that those cards which are paired will cometogether, thereafter the cards will again be passed through the machineand the pairs selected and sorted into a pocket separate from the pocketfor the unpaired cards.

The new cards having the 12 holes representing paid invoices are placedin the hopper of the machine and the first sorting run carried out untilall the cards are exhausted. The old cards having no 12 holes arerepresenting the invoices are then placed in the hopper, and the firstsorting run continued until the old cards are exhausted. The remainingsorting runs necessary to bring the cards into numerical order are thencompleted using the batch of combined cards. Usually the first run sortsthe cards according to the units place of the group number, then sortingon the tens place is carried out and so on until all decimal positionsof the group number have been sorted into proper order.

It will be found after this preliminary sorting operation has beencompleted that the cards having the 12 perforations will lie on top ofthe corresponding cards which have no perforations in the same column.In other words each card representing a paid invoice will be immediatelyfollowed by the card made out for that same invoice when the goods wereshipped.

The problem is now to select all the cards which are paired off and inorder to do this the cards are placed face down in the hopper of themachine so that the edges of the cards in which the 12 perforationsappear will pass under the brush B1 first as the cards are fed from leftto right (Fig. l) in numerical order. In' other words, the 12 holes inthe cards representing paid invoices will be sensed as 9 holes by thebrush B1. The switch S3 will be opened while the switch S-1 will beshifted to the lower position (Fig. 1) so that the resistance connectedto the lower position of said switch will be conheated in series withbrushes 27 to the normally open contacts of relay R2. The switch S-2will remain open. The sorting brush 3-1 is positioned to sense the cardsin the column in which the 12 perforation occurs.

Fig. 3 indicates diagrammatically the order in which the cards are fedand their arrangement in the batch. It will be understood that in Fig. 3the cards are fed face downwardly in the direction of the straightarrows toward the brush B-1 in such fashion that the 12 index-pointpositions are sensed first and the 9 index point positions last. Inother words the usual order for sensing the cards is reversed asnormally the 9 positions are read first and the 12 positions last.

The relative arrangement of the cards will be clearly evident in Fig. 3and following figures by noting the position of the cut corners in thecards.

Normally the upper left hand corners are cut from the cards in order toensure that the cards 'will always be stacked properly. It is notnecesare face up.

Before placing the cards in the hopper it is necessary to place a blankcard in the hopper so that the blank card will be the first card fed..,The purpose of this blank card is to insure that the machine will be inreadiness to properly select the paired from the single cards as, due tothe are rangement of thecircuits for the pairing opera tion, it ispossiblethat themachine may have stopped after a prior sorting,operation with the sorting magnet energized in which case the first cardwould go to the 9 pocket. The blank card will, of course, be fed fromthe hopper first and will pass beneath the brush B-1 into either the 9pocket or the R pocket depending upon the stopping point of the machineafter the last sort-' ing operation.

In Fig. 3 the cards marked with the letter P nated, thus the cardsdesignated'P1, 1, P-3,;

3 and Pi, 4 are paired. The cards-2 and 5 to 7, inclusive, representsingle invoices which have not been paid.

t will be noted that the P'cards have 12 holes in a given column orposition on the card, whereas the single cards have no such hole nor,'in fact, any hole in the corresponding column. When the card P-l issensed by the brush B1 the 12 hole appearing in the P-1 card will beread as if it were a 9 hole and, assuming that the commutator C-5 hasbeen rendered current conducting in the 9 position only, a circuit willbe established as follows: Left side of line 26, the 9 position. ofthe'commutator 0-5, common brush CB, contact roll CR, brush Bl, thenormally closed contacts of relay R4, windings of relays R1 and R2,sorting magnet SM, and

the lower contacts relay R-3, to the right side of the line 25. Thesorting magnet SM will attract its armature lowering all the blades 20and thereby causing the P1 card to be guided into the 9 pocket.

Energization of the relay Br-1 will set up a holding circuit for itself,relay R-2, and sorting magnet SM through the commutator C1 which holdingcircuit will be maintained until the brush B1 has traversed all theindex-point positions of the P1 card. Energization of the relay R2 veventually sets up a second holding circuit through the brushes 27 andswitch S 1 to the line 26 The commutator C2 becomes effective justbeyond the 12 position so that, when the come.

mutator Cl breaks the holding circuit for relay R--1, the holdingcircuit through the relay. R-2

and sorting magnet SM will still be maintained through the beginning ofthe next cycle. Consequently the sorting magnet will still be energizewhen the next card (the 1 card) is fed past the brush B1 and the contactroll CR, thereby causing said 1 card to be likewise guided into the 9pocket. commutator 0-2 will break at, the

8 index-point position of the cycle in which the brush B1 is passingover the 1 card-thereby k 111. Sorting paired cards into two pocketssepsaid card will pass to the reject or R pocket,v

since the sorting magnet is deenergized and cannotbeagain energizedowing to the absence of a hole in the column read by brush 1Bl.

When the second pair of cards P'3, 3 is sensedby-the brush 13-1, saidcardswill likewise be con-- veyed to the 9 pocket in exactly the samefashion asthecards P1, 1 were conveyed to said pocket, since theoccurrence of the 12 hole in the P-3 card will set up the successiveholding circuits through-the commutators C1, 0-2 as before and: energizethe sorting magnet SM at the 9 index-point position of the cycle for theP3 card and the sorting magnet will remain energized until the 8index-point position of the cycle in which the 3 card is sensed. by thebrush Bl.

' It will be seen, therefore, that those cards which are paired will beconveyed into the 9 pocket, Whereas the single unaccompanied cards willbe conveyed into the reject pocket. I

- In' actual practice the P cards will be pro- ;vided with some physical'characteristic Whichclearly indicates their nature as by a colorstripe, an over printed letter or word, or they may be coloreddifferently from the cards which they are paired.

crate from the pocket for the single cards It is sometimes desired tosort the paired cards so-that the corresponding cards of the pairsfallinto two pockets separate from the pocket for the single cards. Thisoperation may be very readily performed according to the presentinvention by placing the batch of cards illustrated in Figure 3 in themachine face down so that the cards are fed in the usual fashion withthe 9 index-point positions sensed first by the brush B1. Fig. 4illustrates the same batch of cards shown in Fig. 3 fed towards thebrush B-1, in the normal fashion, said brush, as before, reading thecol- ;umns in which the 12 holes appear in the P cards;

The commutator C5 in this case is made current conducting in the 12position only and the arrangement of circuits is the same as when thepaired cards are sorted into a single pocket in stead'of into separatepockets as in the present case, that is, the switch 3-2 will be openedand the switch S1 in the lower position. The sorting brush B1, as beforeis positioned to sense the cards in the column in which the 12 holeappears. In Fig. 4 as in Fig. 3 the pairs of cards are indicated bydouble headed-arrows and the direction of feed is indicated by thestraight arrows. A blank card is placed in the hopper first to insurethat the circuits will be properlyoperativewhen the first punched cardcomes under the brush B1.

When the card designated Pl (Fig. 4) passes under the brush B1', the 12hole in said card will be sensed in the normal manner at the 12index-point position of the cycle so that the sorting magnet S M'will beenergized when the leading edge of the card has passed beneath the endsof all but one of the blades 20, so that the P-l card will besubsequently guided into the 12 pocket. The commutator Cl becomeseffective at the 12 index-point position to establish the holdingcircuit of the sorting magnet SM exactly as before described, so thatthe card designated .1 will be conveyed into the 9 pocket after it haspassed beneath the brush B-1, since the sorting magnet SM will remainenergized throughcard 1 the first part of the cycle inwhich the ispassing beneath the brush B'1. I i 7 It will be seen that in this casethe pair of cards P-1, 1' will be split, the P-1 card going into the 12pocket, whereas the card designated 1 will go to the 9 pocket. Duringthe second cardcycle while the card designated l'is passing beneath thebrush B1; commutator C2 will break the holding circuit through themagnet SM. Whenthe card designated 2 is traversed'by the brush no holewill be encountered in the 12 index-point position and said card will'beguided to the reject or R pocket. In a similar manner the cardsdesignated 5, 6 and '7 will be conveyed to. the reject pocket, whereasthe cards designated P--3, P4 and P8'will be conveyed to the 12 pocketand the cards designated 3 and 4 will be guided to the 9 pocket.

It will be clear, therefore, that, when a sorting operation such as justdescribed has been completed, the single cards will be found in thereject" IV. Removing superfluous cards It may sometimes happen thatcards are punched erroneously as, for instance, a duplicate card may bepunched when the invoice is paid or the group number may be punchedincorrectly in one of the cards representing a paid invoice.

These duplicate cards and the erroneously punched cards may be separatedfrom the p'airedllfl cards under certain circumstances by a sortingoperation somewhat similar to that in which the paired cards are sortedinto a single pocket; In

order todo this an additional control column is a 12 hole in a columndifferent-from the column 5 in which the.l2 hole appears in the P cards,

and the corresponding column'in the P- cards In order to select thesuper fiuous cards the batch of cardsis placed in the has no 12 hole.

machine with face up so the cards will'be fed in reverse numericalorder. The arrangement of the batch of cards and the manner in whichthey are fed is illustrated in Fig. 5 where the solid arrow representsdirection of feed, while the curved solid arrows represent the truepairs, and the broken curved arrows indicate a false pair caused, forinstance, by incorrect punching of It will be observed that there i aretwo P6 cards, and that following the pair the group number.

of cards designated P-5, 5 is a card designated P-, which card wasaccidentally punched with a wrong group number and has no correspondingcard designated 4 paired with it. It will be noted from an inspection ofFig. 5 that inthepresent case the P cards follow their mates and do notprecede them as is the case in Figs. 3 and 4.

cards not designated by the letter P in Fig. 5' andthe commutator C-5 ismade current conducting in the Si index-point position. When the brushB'1 senses a 12 hole in the card desigj' nated '7 in the Fig. 5, said 12hole will be read as if it were a 9 hole in a normally fed card wherethe nines are read first, consequently the'sorting the batch oftabulating machine, the automatic group conmagnet will be energizedimmediately and the card designated '7 will be conveyed to the 9 pocket.The holding circuit will be set up through the commutator C1 andeventually, during the same cycle, the commutator C2 will come intoaction to maintain said holding circuit through the first part of thefollowing cycle in which the brush B1 is traversing the card P-7, andthe card designated P'. will be likewise guided into the 9 pocket. Thusa true pair of cards will be guided into the 9 pocket.

' In similar fashion the cards P6 and 6, respectively, will be guidedinto the 9 pocket and, since the first card designated P6 has no hole inthe column sensed by brush B1, the holding circuit through the sortingmagnet SM will be broken by the commutator C--2. When the second P6 cardis traversed by brush B1 no 12 hole will be encountered in the columntraversed by said brush, consequently the second card P-6 will beconveyed to the reject pocket. Thus, in every case where a true pair isimmediately followed by a single card designated by the letter P in thedrawing, the second card will go to the reject pocket and this actionwill occur even though the second card has a diiferent group number asis the case with the card designated P-4 which immediately follows thetrue pair designated P5, 5.

Occasionally it may happen that a card is erroneously punched torepresent as paid an invoice which has not in fact been paid or thegroup number may be erroneously punched so that it accidentally mateswith a card representing an invoice which has not been paid. The lasttwo cases are illustrated by the pairs designated P3, 3 and P1, 2. Thesorting machine is incapable of selecting the last mentioned pairs ofcards, since for this operation the machine can only sense 12 holes andthe latter alone are not suificient to distinguish cards with differentgroup numbers when the cards accidentally happen to occur in pairedrelation, however, when cards is fed through the trol will functionbetween the cards designated P1, 2, and P-3 thereby causing interveningtotals to be printed which will show two single items'and two singletotals on the printed record sheet which when the record sheet issubsequently inspected will indicate to the operator of the machine thatcards have accidentally become improperly mated. The combination P-3, 3will only be detected when the printed record sheet from the tabulatingmachine is checked with V. Replacing certain cards in a batch by othercards It is sometimes found desirable to remove certain cards in a batchand insert others in place of the cards removed. Of course thisoperation could be done manually by a clerk but, where the cards to bereplaced are numerous and the batch large, a considerable amount of timeis required most of which could be saved if the operation were performedby machine. The present invention provides means for quickly andefiiciently performing the foregoing operation on an ordi- 'nary sortingmachine.

The new cards which are to replace othersalready in the batch will beprovided with a 12 hole in a given column while none of the cards of thebatch in which some cards are to be replaced will have a 12 hole in thecolumn corresponding to that in which the 12 hole appears in the newcards. A preliminary sorting operation is carried out to place the cardsin numerical order so that each card to be replaced will be preceded inthe batch by the card which is to be substituted for said card.

In order to place the cards in such order th new cards having the 12holes are placed together in the hopper of the machine and on top ofthem is placed the batch of cards in which some cards are to be replacedby new cards. The com bined batch of cards is then sorted in the usualfashion into numerical order according to the group number after whichoperation it will be found that each cardto be replaced will be precededby the card which is to replace that particular card. In other words,each of the cards which is to be replaced will be found to be pairedwith the corresponding new card having the 12 hole with the latter cardfirst in sequence.

The single batch of cards is now placed in themachine hopper in thenormal fashion with the first card face down, a blank card having beenfirst placed in the hopper, so that the 9 indexpoint positions will besensed first by the brush B-1 and the latter is adjusted to traverse thecolumn in which a 12 hole is likely to appear. The switch S3 is closed,switch S l is placed in the upper position, and the commutator C-5 ismade current conducting in the 12 position only. The switches S2 and S4remain open.

The sequencein which the cards are fed'when the machine is startedis-illustrated in Fig. 6 in which the straight arrows indicate thedirection of the card feed while the curved double-headed arrowsindicate the cards which are to be interchanged. In this figure thegroup numbers are shown with large numerals and the cards which are toreplace others are designated by an X preceding the group number whichindicates that a card so designated is to replace the one immediatelybelow having the same group number. Thus, the cards designated Xj-1,X-'3, X4 and X? are to replace thecards designated 1, '3, 4 and 7,respectively. r

When the brush B-l senses the 12 hole in the card X1-a circuit will beestablished from line 26, the 12 position of commutator C-5, brush'CB,contact roll CR, brush B1 through the hole in the 12 index-pointposition of the card X--1, normally closed contacts of relay R4,windings of relays R, 1, R-,2, brushes 28, commutator C3 (Currentconducting at 12 index point position of each cycle), and the normallyclosed lower contacts of relay R3, to line 25.

The closure of the contacts of relay R1, sets up a holding circuit foritself and relay 3-2 which circuit is maintained for a short time afterthe hole in the 12 indeX-pointposition has passed brush B-1. Closure ofthe contacts of relay P,2 sets up a second holding circuit throughcommutator C-2 shortly after the 12 index-point position (Fig. 2) whichcircuit is maintained after the holding circuit for relay R1 has beenbroken by commutator Cl. The circuit through commutator C2 is maintaineduntil just after the 8 index-point position of the next cycle. The X-'1card will be conveyed to the R or reject pocket as the'sorting'magnet SMis shunted atthe 12 position.

lot)

The commutator C-.3 breaks the shunt in the sorting magnet SMimmediately after the 12 index point position thereby causing thesorting magnet to attract its armature and lower all the blades 20. Thesorting magnet remains energized until after the commutator C2 breaksthe holding circuit through relay R2 and magnet SM just after the 8index-point position of the following cycle, consequently the carddesignated 1 will be conveyed to the 9 pocket. As there is no hole inthe column of the card designated 1 corresponding to the column in whichthe 12 hole appears in the card designated X-1 the sorting magnet SMwill not be energized during the cycle in which the card designated. 1is sensed by brush B1. Since the card designated 2 has no 12- hole thesorting magnet SM will not be energized during the. cycle when said cardis sensed by brush B1, consequently said card will be conveyed to the Rpocket and will -fall on top of the X-l card. 7 1

It is clear that the 12 hole in each card designated X will set up acircuit which causes the card immediately following to be conveyed tothe 9 pocket without affecting the progress of the card so designated-tothe R. pocket and that any card not designated with an X and notpreceded by one so designated will also be conveyed to the R pocket.When the sorting operation is completed the cards'which are tobe removed and replaced will be accumulated inthe 9 pocket while in the Rpocket will accumulate a batohin which all the desired cards have beenreplaced by new cards. This batch of cards may be tabulated in atabulating .machine of vwell known construction or theremoved cards maybe tabulated, or both groups of cards may be tabulated separatelydepending on what kind of data the cards represent and the data which isdesired.

It may be desired at a future date to replace other cards of a batch inwhichsome cards have already been replaced by others so that the batchcontains a number of cards having the .12

: hole. In order to do so the new cards mustbe perforated at 12 in acolumn corresponding to a column in the old cards in which no #12 holecan appear. It is likely that such card replacements will occur atregular intervals, let us say monthly, in which case it will be foundadvantageous to assign a whole field of several columns in each card forthe purpose of controlling re placements. If the cards need only beusedfor a. year, for example, a field of twelve columns would beassigned to replacement control. In

' January the new cards would be made out with the 12 hole in the firstcolumn of. the field for replacement control, in February the 12 holewould appear in the second column, and so; on. The foregoing systemensures that the 12 holes in .the old cards will not cause interferencewith the 12 holes in the new cards. Obviously any number ofsubstitutions may be made within reason-able limits depending upon thecapacity of the cardto receive data designating perforations.

VI. Replacing certain cards and removing others in a /single passage ofthe cards through the machine The operations of replacing certain cardsand removing others maybe successfully accomplished accordingtothepresent invention during a single passage of the batch through themachine. The new cards which are to replace others already in the batchare provided; as described in, the .pre;

ceding section, with 1 2 holes in a predetermined column while for eachcard which is to be removed from the batch without being replaced thereis provided a control card havingmerely the group number punchedtherein'and a 9 hole punched in some unused column. The cards toberemoved will have no perforation in the column corresponding to thatin which the 9 holes appear in the control cards. h

The new cards having the 12 holes are placed in the hopper first andthen the control cards having the 9 holes are placed on topof the newcards. The first run of a normal sortingoperation to place the cards innumericalorder according to group number is then carried out. When thecardsbecome exhausted from thehopper the old cards having no specialholes are placed in the hopper and the first sorting run continued withthe old cards until they in turn become exhausted. The additionalrunsnecessary to place the cards in numerical order are then carried outas before. The combined batch of cards is now ready for the specialsorting operation to 'replace the desired cards with new ones and alsoremove others without corresponding replacements.

h Fig. 7 illustrates the relation between the cards after thepreliminary sorting operation has been completed. It will be noted thatcertain cards designated by an"X before the group number are to replacethose cards immediately following, that is, which are below, the cardsso designated, and the X cards have a 12 hole in a given-column asdescribed in the preceding section. Thus, the cards ,X1, X- 3, and X-4are toreplace the cards 1, 3 and 4, respectively. The cards designatedR, are the control cards which are to be used to remove the cards withcorresponding group numbers originally present in the batch appearingimmediately below the cards designated with theR. Thus, the cardsdesignated R-2 and R' 6 control removal of the cards 2 and 6,respectively, and are provided with 9 holes in a column which does notcorrespond tothe one in which the 12 holes appear in the cards X'1, X3and. X,4. The solid straight arrows indicate the direction of feed ofthe cards, the solid curved arrows the cards to be interchanged, whilethe cards to be removed are designated by broken curved arrows.

The machine is provided with an extra brush holder andbrush B2 like thebrush B-l, the latter being positionedto sense holes in the columnshaving the l2.hole while the brush B2 is electrically connected to thebrush B1 and is positioned to sense in the column having the 9 holes.The commutator C5 is made current conducting inthe 9 .and '12 positions,switch S-3 is closed, and switch S1 .is placed in the upper position.Switches S-2 and 8-4 remain open. A blank card is placed at the bottomof the hopper as describedin preceding sections and the ca'rds'areplaced face down in the hopper so the brushes B-l, B2 will sense the 9index-points first and the l2 index-points last.

When the machine is started the blank card will go to either the rejectpocket or the 9 pocket depending upon the point at which the machinestopped after aprevious sortingjoperation. The card X-1 will be conveyedto the reject or R pocket since the 12 hole in said card will set up acircuit through relays R1 R -TZ, and brushes .28 of commutator C-3,' asdescribed in the preceding section, and the com 'mutator 0-2 will set upa holding circuit for the relay 3-2 which will be maintained until the 8position of the next cycle when the 1 card is being sensed. Thecommutator 0-3 will break the circuit through brushes 28 just after the12 position, thereby causing the sorting magnet SM to become energized.The card 1 will be conveyed'to the 9 pocket owing to the fact that theholding circuit through the sorting magnet SM, relay R-2 and commutatorC-2 is maintained until the 8 position or" the cycle in which the card 1is being sensed.

The brush B-2 next senses the 9 hole in the card R,2 so that this cardwill also be conveyed to the 9 pocket and the sorting magnet will remainenergized, due to the joint action of commutators C-1, C-2, until thecard 2 is sensed, consequently, the last named card will also go to the9 pocket and will fall on top of the cards 1 and Pt-2. The cards X-3 andX- i will similarly go to the R pocket and will :iall on top of the cardX-l. The cards 3 and i will be conveyed to the 9 pocket and will fall ontop of the cards 1, R-2, and 2. The card 5, as it has no 9 or 12 holeand is not preceded by a card having either a 9 or a 12 hole, will go tothe reject pocket. The cards 8-6, 6, like the cards 3-2, 2 will becarried to the 9 pocket. When the analysis of all the cards has beencompleted the cards designated X-l, X-3, X- l, and 5 will be found innumerical order in the R pocket while the cards 1, R-2, 2, 3, 4, R-6 and6 will likewise be in numerical order in the 9 pocket.

VII. Removing completed groups of cards from a batch In the practice ofaccounting according to the Hollerith system record cards are often madeout to represent successive steps in atransaction or operation or torepresent a series of transactions or operations. When the final step,transaction, or operation has taken place, a closing card is made outwhich cards completes the series of cards previously made out and filedaway among similar cards. As each series of transactions or operationsbecomes complete it is usually desirable to remove from the file ofcards all those previously prepared cards related to each card whichcompletes a series and place the completed groups in a separate file ordestroy them.

The foregoing may be illustrated by a specific example. When goods aresold on the installment plan a card is perforated to represent theinvoice of goods shipped and contains the necessary data as to theconditions of sale, price, and so on. As each invoice is paid a closingcard is made out to match the original card representing the invoice andother cards may also be made out to represent installment payments inthe interval of time between the shipping of the goods and the final orclosing payment. When the final payment is made completing thetransaction between seller and buyer it is desirable to remove thosecards representing closed transactions so that the remaining cards canbe passed through the tabulating machine for the purpose or" preparingdunning statements to delinquent debtors.

It is ordinarily necessary to remove the completed groups of cardsmanually, an operation which requires the expenditure of considerabletime and labor much of which could be saved if the operation could beperformed mechanical- 1y. The present invention has been so devised asto permit the foregoing operation to be quick-v ly performed on a wellknown form of sorting machine with a consequent saving of time andlabor. s

The cards representing invoices of goods shipped are provided with 11holes in a given column while the cards representing payment in full orthe final payment are provided with 12 holes in the column correspondingto that in which the 11 hole appears in the cards representing invoices.The cards representing intervening installment payments are not providedwith either 11 or 12 holes in the column in which the latter appear inthe other cards.

As a preliminary, the cards representing invoices, installment payments,and final payments are sorted togetherinto numerical order according togroup number or invoice number after the fashion described in precedingsections so that all the cards of a given group number are together withthe card having 11 hole last, the card having the 12 holes first, andthe cards having no hole in between.

The cards of the batch thus secured are placed face down in the hopperof the machine, a blank card having first been placed at the bottom ofthe hopper as in preceding sections, so that the brush 3-1 will read the12 indexpoint positions first, thus the 12 holes will-be sensed as ifthey were 9 holes and the 11 holes as 8 holes. 4

Thebrush 13-1 is positioned to sense in the column in which the 11 card12 holes appear, the commutator 0-5 is made current conducting in the 9and 8 positions, switches S-Z I-a are closed, and the switch 3-1 isplaced in its upper position. The switch S-3 remains open.

Fig. 8 illustrates the direction of feed and arrangement or" a batch ofcards from which completed groups are to be removed and conveyed to apocket separate from the incomplete groups. The solid straight arrowsrepresent the direction of feed, the solid curved arrows the completedgroups, and the broken arrows the incomplete groups. The letter P beforethe group number represents an installment payment FP; a pay-- ment infull or a final installment payment, and I an invoice. The pairs ofcards P-1, 1-1 and P-5, 1-5 represent invoices on which one installmentpayment has been made, the pair FP-Z, I-2 an invoice paid in full. Thesingle card 1-3 stands for an unpaid invoice while the group FP- i, P-a,1 -4, 1-4 illustrates a complete group of cards representing an invoicepaid in three installments. The groups FP-Z, 1-2 and FP-4 I-4 are to besorted into a pocket separate from the others.

The first card P-l has neither an 11 nor a 12 hole and hence will beconveyed to the reject pocket. The 11 hole in the card 1-1 is sensed asif it were an 8 hole and, as the commutator 0-4 is effective at the 8position in the cycle a circuit will be established through relay E-3causing the upper contacts thereof to close to establish a holdingcircuit for said relay through commutator C-1 and at thesame timecausing the lower contacts of said relay to open thereby breaking thecircuit through the sorting magnet SM. The relay Et -3 is designed tooperate more quickly than the sorting ,magnet SM so as to prevent thelatter from being energized over the normal sorting circuit from brushB-l through relays R-l, lit-2. The card 1-1 will be conveyed tothereject pocket since the magnet SM is not energized. At the end of thecycle the commutator 0-1 will break. the holding circuit through relayR-3.

"The brush B--l next senses the 12 hole in card FP-2 at the 9 positionin the cycle thereby energizing the sorting magnet SM and causing thecard FP-Z to be conveyed to the 9f pocket. A holdingcircuit for sortingmagnet SM and relays R--2, R4 is set up through the normally opencontacts of relay R-2 now closed which circuit is maintained until thebrush B-l senses the 11 hole in card I2 at the 8 point in the cyclethereby'establishing a circuit through relay R3 and commutator C4= aspreviously described which holding circuit is heldthrough the commutatorC-l until the end of the cycle. The relay- R-3 opens its contacts andbreaks the circuit through the sorting magnet SM and relays 'P,2, R'-4so that the card I2 will be conveyed to the 9 pocket. The card IB willbe treated like the card Il as the 11 hole therein has no efiect exceptto prevent energization of the sorting magnet and consequently the cardIS willlikewise be carried to the reject pocket.

The card FP4, due to the 12" hole therein, will set up the holdingcircuit through the sorting magnet SM and will be conveyed to the 9pocket. The two cards P-4 and the card I4 will likewise be conveyed tothe 9 pocket and, during the sensing of card 1-4, the presence of the 11hole therein will cause the holding circuit through the sorting magnetSM to be 35. broken.

After the sorting operation has been finished all completed groups ofcards like the groups FP-'2, I2 and FP4 1-4 will be accumulated in the 9pocket while the other cards will be together in the reject or R pocket.

Several illustrative operations have been described herein to show theadaptability of the invention to the solution of Various practicalproblems. It will be understood of course that 5 the invention is usefulin other cases where it is necessary to pair, exchange or replace, orremove. cards, or remove whole groups comprising more than two cards,and isnot limited to the specific examples selected for purposes ofillustration.

Nor is the invention limited to the specific form or arrangement ofpartsand circuits illustrated and described as various changes may be made toadapt the invention to the varying conditions found in practicalapplications without in anywise departing from the principles describedherein and illustrated in the drawings.

I claim:

1. A sorting machine adapted to sort a batch ,1 of records whereinoccurpairs of records interspersed by single records, the leading record of apair being provided with a designation having a predetermined valuesignifying that the leading. record and the record following form apair, comprising sorting mechanism adapted to distributerecordsaccording to the value of designations in the records, a circuit forcontrolling said mechanism, a single record sensing brush controllingsaid circuit in accordance with said designations when the latter aresensed by said brush, an auxiliary device operative to control saidcircuit to cause; an invariable distribution of records which followthose having designations indicating pairs, such distribution beingalways 5: the same regardless of the value of the designation indicatinga pair, and means controlled by said brush for calling into operationsaid device Whenever said brush senses the designation in dicating apair.

2. A sorting machine adapted to be controlled by a batch of records inwhich occur pairsof records interspersed by single unpaired records,said pairs of records being distinguished by a single controlvdesignation in one of the records of each pair, comprising sortingmechanism,a circuit for controlling said mechanism, a single sortingbrush in said circuit and adapted to sense said control designation, acommutator device adapted to prevent the sorting circuit from beingeffective when the control designation in a record of a pair is sensedwhereby to determine a given destination for the designated records, asecond commutator device adapted to control the sorte ing circuit todetermine a different destination for the undesignated records of thepairs, and means controlled by the sensing brush for rendering thesecond commutator device eifective.

3. A sorting machine adapted to be controlled by a batch of recordswherein occur paired records interspersed by single unpaired records,the paired records being distinguished by a predetermined control:designation in one of the records of each pair, the other record of eachpair being undesignated; comprising sorting mechanism, a single. recordsensing element for controlling the sorting mechanism according to thevalue of the control designations in the records, an aux iliary deviceoperative to render the sorting mechanism ineffective to sort recordswith respect to the value of the predetermined control designae tiononly whereby to cause the records having such designation to berejected, and means called into operation by the sensing element whenthe latter senses said predetermined designations for controlling thesorting mechanism to determine a common and separate destination for,the undesignated records of the pairs. I

4. A sorting machine adapted to be controlled by a batch of recordswherein may occur together pairs of records which are related to eachother and identified as pairs by a designation of predetermined value inone of the records of each pair; comprising a record sensing elementadapted to detect the presence of such designation in a record when therecords are presented to said element in such order that each recordbearing such designation is, sensed prior to sensing of the otherrecords of the pairs, sorting mechanism controlled by said element andnormally effective to distribute the records according to the value ofdesignations in the records, an auxiliary device normally effective torender the sorting mechanism ineffective to sort in the normal mannerwhen the sensing element detects the presence of the designationidentifying a pair of records whereby to cause the sorting mechanismtore-. ject all records having such designation, and means controlled bythe sensing element and effective to determine. a predetermined andcommon distribution of the undesignated records of the pairs subsequentto the rejection or" the designated records whereby to effect adistribution of the undesignated records of the pairs diiierent from thedistribution of the designated records of the pairs. 7

. 5. A sorting machine adapted to be controlled by a batch of recordswherein certain related records occur together in pairs which pairs maybe interspersed by single unrelated undesignated records, said pairsbeing identified by a control designation having a predetermined valuein one nected to said circuit and operative to modify the action of thesorting mechanism whereby to determine a disposition of the undesignatedrecords of the pairs different from the disposition of the designatedrecords of the'pairs and the single undesignated records, and meanscontrolled by the sensing element for rendering said switching deviceeflective subsequent to the sensing of a designated record of a pair.

RUDOLF LORANT.

